INFORMAL REPORT ON OBSERVATIONS AND RF FIELD INTENSITY MEASUREMENTS MADE AT A COMMERCIAL FM/TV TOWER LOCATED IN EL PASO, TEXAS
Z. Glaser, R. Curtis · 1978
This 1978 report documented RF field intensities at broadcast towers, providing early occupational exposure data for safety standards.
Plain English Summary
This 1978 technical report documented radiofrequency field intensity measurements at a commercial FM/TV broadcasting tower in El Paso, Texas. The study focused on occupational exposure levels for workers at the transmission facility, providing early data on RF field strengths around high-power broadcast antennas.
Why This Matters
This report represents crucial early documentation of RF exposure levels at broadcast facilities during the dawn of widespread FM and television transmission. What makes this particularly significant is the timing - 1978 was when OSHA was first establishing occupational safety standards for radiofrequency energy exposure. Workers at broadcast towers face some of the highest RF exposures of any occupation, often thousands of times stronger than what the general public experiences from these same towers at ground level. The reality is that broadcast tower workers have served as an inadvertent test population for high-level RF exposure effects. Studies like this provided the foundational exposure data that informed early safety standards, yet many of those standards remain largely unchanged today despite decades of research showing biological effects at much lower levels than previously considered safe.
Exposure Information
Specific exposure levels were not quantified in this study.
Show BibTeX
@article{informal_report_on_observations_and_rf_field_intensity_measurements_made_at_a_co_g6103,
author = {Z. Glaser and R. Curtis},
title = {INFORMAL REPORT ON OBSERVATIONS AND RF FIELD INTENSITY MEASUREMENTS MADE AT A COMMERCIAL FM/TV TOWER LOCATED IN EL PASO, TEXAS},
year = {1978},
}